


Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall

by flaming_muse



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Marriage Equality, Presidential Inauguration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 16:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/652151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flaming_muse/pseuds/flaming_muse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine watches the inauguration alone in his house, a bowl of microwave popcorn cooling on the coffee table and a glass of soda fizzing gently by his hand.</p><p>set in the canonical present, so assumes through 4x10 (“Glee, Actually”) with no spoilers beyond, takes place on January 21rst, 2013</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall

**Author's Note:**

> I’m aware that my approach is not a common one, but I write Kurt and Blaine primarily from the idea that they are real boys in the real Ohio. I mean, Glee World Logic is its own special creature, and I never try to reconcile canon to the real world (that way lies madness!), but when I think about how Kurt or Blaine must feel I try to do it through the lens of the experiences of a gay teenage boy in our culture in an environment that doesn’t accept them (as shown on the show).
> 
> I don’t often reflect real world events in my Glee fic, but today I did. I think it would matter to them.

  
_We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth._

_It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well._

\- President Barack Obama, Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 2013 (from the White House’s official text)

*

Blaine watches the inauguration alone in his house, a bowl of microwave popcorn cooling on the coffee table and a glass of soda fizzing gently by his hand. It seems as good of a way as any to spend his day off from school: some great singers, a few big speeches, maybe a hat or two that if he’s lucky Kurt will text him about later. He can try to get some more three star levels on Angry Birds during the less exciting parts.

It feels kind of weird and distant, sitting comfortably on his couch with bare feet and watching a president he isn’t old enough to elect stand in front of a gathering of freezing dignitaries Blaine will never meet and talk about the country’s history he didn’t experience and its potential future he probably won’t, either. It’s a positive change from the tone of campaign speeches, but even though it’s Blaine’s country, he’s a kid in Ohio. He cares about the issues, but he isn’t able to shape them yet; hell, he can barely get his voice heard in the choir room at McKinley some days.

The inauguration is impressive but has so little to do with him and his future. Sure, the economic recovery and choices around the social safety net are important, he’s smart enough to know that, but they’re not about him in specific. They’re not about his job or his taxes. He’s still just a teenager.

Blaine won’t even be out of college by the time the next president is elected, but _that_ will be his president, he thinks. That will be the first inauguration that’s his. That will be when his voice gets to shape the world about what really matters to him. Right now all he can do is listen to other people talking about stuff that matters to them.

He sends a bird hurtling toward a complex wooden structure and glances back up at the television. He doesn’t want to miss an important hat, and the president is a good speaker. Blaine can learn something about how to inspire people through words if nothing else.

And then President Obama mentions the Stonewall riots in a list about equality. He just says it. Just... says it and keeps going, like it’s that simple.

In a rush of shock, the blood drains from Blaine’s face, and his pulse races, and when Blaine sits up straight and wonders if he actually heard that right the president goes on to talk directly about LGBT equality.

The president’s next words wash over him as Blaine sits there gripping his phone with the pigs snorting quietly through the speaker and feels like the world is shifting around him.

He can’t be blind to the way so much of the country still hates him for how he was born and who he loves; he carries the personal scars and memories to prove it, and he reads the news. He might believe with all of his heart in the fight for his rights, but he knows many other people believe with the same fervor in stopping him from having them.

But the president just stood there and talked about marriage equality movement like it is as important as women’s suffrage and civil rights, like it matters, like it’s just a given that it should, no matter what all of those screaming talking heads like to proclaim.

The president just said that the things Blaine thinks are important, his very deepest wishes for his own personal future, are important to his vision of the country, too.

Maybe, Blaine thinks dizzily, the inauguration and the next four years have something to do with him after all.

Blaine’s phone chimes in his hand, and he blinks himself back to the world and looks down to see a text from Kurt.

Kurt to Blaine: _He mentioned Stonewall!_

His heart pounding, Blaine types back with shaking thumbs: _And marriage equality!!!_

Kurt to Blaine: _I know! :D I had to pause it to give Rachel time to stop screaming and clinging to me._

Blaine thinks of Kurt sitting in his apartment in New York, curled with Rachel on their couch against the cold winter drafts, watching the same speech, feeling the same feelings, experiencing the same exact wonder that he is and knowing that no matter what it might have felt like when they were both growing up, no matter what it can feel like walking down the street in Lima even today, they aren’t alone.

They’re so far from alone in what they believe in that the President of the United States is taking the time to talk about it when he speaks about what he sees as the most important issues in the country.

Lying on the ground getting beaten up for going with a boy to a dance just a few years ago, Blaine couldn’t have imagined it being true. Even after he met Kurt, it still felt like the two of them standing up against the world for so long. And yet...

Blaine takes a shuddering breath, blinks the dampness from his eyes, and lifts his phone from his lap.

Blaine to Kurt: _I think I’m going to have to rewind and watch it again, just to be sure it happened._

Kurt to Blaine: _It did. I saw it, too. :)_

Kurt to Blaine: _But I’m probably still going to play it a dozen times in a row when he’s finished._

Blaine to Kurt: _Yeah. <3_

A minute later, like he doesn’t know how to respond or like Rachel distracts him, Kurt replies: _< 3_

His heart ready to overflow in his chest, Blaine wishes he had someone to hug like Kurt does Rachel. He wishes he had someone close to hand who understands what this _means_ like Kurt does. No, he wishes he were in New York with them, with Kurt, to hug and celebrate with _him_ , because as much as he believes in marriage equality and other important rights for everyone, he wants them in specific for himself with Kurt, forever with Kurt.

But he isn’t, and he might not get that future, so instead he sets down his phone and reaches for the remote so that he can go back and watch those words again and listen to the rest of the president’s vision.

It isn’t any less stunning the second time around.

Things are changing, the world is changing around them, Blaine thinks, tears in his eyes and his joy almost too awed to bloom into a smile, and wishes he were with the boy he loves to hold his hand and watch it happen.

He hopes that long before the next inauguration he will be.

**Author's Note:**

> Reminder: I am spoiler-free! Please don't tell me what's coming ahead in the show! Thank you!


End file.
